Universal Journal of Engineering Science 4(4): 66-78, 2016 http://www.hrpub.

org
DOI: 10.13189/ujes.2016.040402

Implementation of the Human Resources Information

Systems and Comparative Study of Various Platforms
Zubaidah Abdulhakeem Majeed1,2,*, Sibel Tariyan Özyer3

1
Cankaya University, Ankara, Turkey
2
Department of Software Engineering, Kirkuk University, Kirkuk, Iraq
3
Department of Computer Engineering, Cankaya University, Ankara, Turkey

Copyright©2016 by authors, all rights reserved. Authors agree that this article remains permanently open access under the
terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 International License

Abstract We are living in an epoch of changes during
which highly competitive advantages are always required for
quick and effective reactions in any organization. It is
expected that the rate of change will increase greatly in the
upcoming future along with the high development rate of
new technologies. Today’s businesses need either to adapt to
these changes or be more innovative to meet these new
necessities. In this research, the Human Resources
Management (HRM) has been aim to study and especially
Human Resources Information System (HRIS) has been
studied. In addition, the benefits and constraints of the
implementation of a Human Resources Information System
(HRIS) on an institution have been discussed in this study.
Moreover, HRIS open source software platforms have been
investigated and comparative study has been proposed.
Selected open source software platform has been designed to
implement HRIS to the University of Kirkuk.
Keywords Human Resources Management System
(HRMS), Human Resources Information System (HRIS),
Human Resources (HR), Human Resources Management
(HRM), Open Source Software Platforms
1. Introduction
HRIS outline the integration between Human Resource
Management (HRM) and Information Technology
(Gerardine deSanctis, 1986). The Human Resource
Information System (HRIS), also known as a Human
Resource Management System (HRMS), became prevalent
in computer HR systems [3].
The evolution of information systems has helped in the
emergence of a new term: Human Resources Information
System (HRIS). Since the beginning of its emergence, there
have been many attempts to make a precise definition of this
concept. The first attempts were made by Walker in 1982,
wherein he states that “the modern human resources
information system may be defined as a computer-based
method for collecting, storing, maintaining, retrieving, and
validating certain data needed by an organization about its
employees, applicants, and former employees” [4].
Tannenbaum (1990) states that “a human resources
information system is a system used to acquire, store,
manipulate, analyze, retrieve, and distribute pertinent
information about an organization’s human resources” [5].
Moreover, Kovach & Cathcart (1999) define HRIS as “a
human resources information system that is a systematic
procedure for collecting, storing, maintaining, retrieving,
and validating data needed by an organization about its
human resources, personnel activities, and organization unit
characteristics” [6].

During the 1970s and 1980s, a new term was coined in

North America, namely Human Resources Management
(HRM) [1]. There have also been many attempts to work on
a precise definition of the concept Human Resources
Management since that time; however, the most common
definition that can be found is the following: an attempt to
regulate the relationship between the employee and the
employer as part of a foundation [2]. Naturally, a system has
several development operations from the beginning of its
inception. Due to the large amount of development occurring
in the Information Technology field, it went from a paper
system to a fully electronic system.
2. Literature Review
Nagendra and Deshpande (2014) have studied HRIS in
HR planning to investigate the usage of HRIS in medium to
large sized corporations. Questionnaires have been used to
50 senior and junior HR managers in this research. Their
research findings present that efficiency of HR planning by
HRIS can be developed reducing time and cost [3].
Another study presented by Buzkan (2016) [7] indicates
the literature review related to HRIS and its importance for
the organizations. Definitions of HRIS, HRIS model,
 Universal Journal of Engineering Science 4(4): 66-78, 2016
historical overview have been investigated by the researcher.
He says that HRIS usage can be chance according to
organizations. Moreover, administrative tasks can be used
or administrative and strategic tasks can be used together.
Information Technology (IT) and HRM observations have
been presented by A. Mishra and I. Akman (2010) [8].
Findings of a survey with in the different sectors in Turkey
have been reported.
A comparative study to find the various software packages
of human resource information system (HRIS) used by
organizations operating in India have been presented by
Qureshi and Sajjad (2013). They have concluded that human
resources and information technology should be used
together in developing country such as India. In this study,
questionnaire results have been analyzed [9].
S. Pande and N. Gomes (2013) point out that importance
of the open source software for human resource information
systems. In this study; various open source software in
Human Resources, importance of open source software
HRIS and cloud hosting with small and medium sized
enterprises have been investigated. Orange HRM, Open
Applicant, LATRIX, TimeTrex, ICeHRM and Waypoint HR
which are the selected open source HR models have been
studied. They describe that Cloud hosting provides cost
effective infrastructure solution where the investment to
purchase server hardware, internet bandwidth and hardware
upgrades is eliminated to the corporations. An open source
HRIS such as Time Trex or Orange HRM have been
suggested as ideal combination by the researchers. In this
research, computer application points of view have been
studied by the authors [10].
3. Objectives of the Study
Iraq is considered to be one of the developing countries
that have suffered from many problems on the political,
economic and social level, which has contributed
significantly to the delay in the development of several areas,
especially in the service sector and in areas of information
and communication technology. Despite these factors, Iraq
still continues progressive to reduce this gap. Many Iraqi
institutions have lacked an effective system for the
management of human resources.
Moreover, none of the existing literature in Iraq, to the
best of our knowledge, has studied the implementation of
HRIS by comparative study of various platforms.
The objectives of the study are:
1. To study of the HRM and HRIS.
2. To investigate and compare HRIS open source
software platforms.
3. To suggest a HRIS for the Kirkuk University and
revision of the possibility of implemention of a
HRIS there.
4. To design and implement the HRIS system, test
system functionality.
67
5. To explore the overall contribution of HRIS open
source software platforms.
4. Proposed Method
In this section, we will review the case study (University
of Kirkuk). In addition, we will review the most important
open source software that has been used in the construction
of global Human Resources systems and we will make an
effective comparison between them, including the
identification of the most important advantages and
weaknesses of each system. After the completion of this
comparison, it will be easy for us to determine to propose the
best system to fit the needs of the University of Kirkuk
followed by customization of the system to meet the needs of
the University of Kirkuk.
There are many reasons why choosing open source
software is the good option for optimization and building a
new system, including the following [15]:
1. Flexibility: Open source software requires fewer
resources to work, which means that this type of software
can operate on older hardware;
2. Interoperability: Open source software can work
properly with other types of software, which means that it
offers higher integrity;
3. Auditability: Open source software can be easily
audited due to the freedom of access to its source code;
4. Cost: There is no doubt that open source software
provides the best option in terms of cost;
5. Quality: While proprietary software is created by a
certain group of programmers, open source software is
written by specialized groups scattered around the world and
it is greatly supported by a community, which helps to set up
high-quality programs; and
6. Customizability: Open source software offers highly
flexible customizable functions to meet any requirement,
which is rarely available with proprietary software.
The process of selecting open source software is not as
easy as it appears. The process needs to be a real test in order
to find the best solution and application that meets the
requirements of an enterprise beneficiary. With this purpose
in mind, in the next section, we will select a series of open
source software packages customized to work as a HRIS, test
each in a virtual environment and make comparisons
between them in order to know the best functional software
that serves our research goals.
4.1. Electronic Human Resources (A1 eHR)
Electronic Human Resources (A1 eHR) is a Human
Resources Management system provided by Alliance
Technologies [11], and is design to target the large and
medium-sized enterprises market. This system offers many
models within same package, such as organization
management, a recruitment model, a leave management
68 Implementation of the Human Resources Information Systems and Comparative Study of Various Platforms
model, an employee relations model, a planning model, and
a payroll system. The system is an open source application
that is written in Java and uses the A1 Platform (a platform
written by a cooperative company). Moreover, it uses the
PostgreSQL database and it has many features, such as ease
of use, high-speed information retrieval, and an extensible
and cloud-ready application. Figure 3 shows the profile
page.
4.2. Sentrifugo
The Sentrifugo system is considered to be one of the most
important existing systems to be designed as a Human
Resources Management system [12]. This is due to a wide
range of electronic services offered by this software. It is
designed as an open source system written in PHP and uses
MySQL as a database. It is published under the GPL license
and is powerful, gratis and considered to be a new age
Human Resources Management system that can be
effortlessly constructed to familiarize one to any
administrative process. It has many features in one single
package, such as the human resources management model,
the performance appraisal model, the employee self-service
model, powerful analytics tools, staff background checks
ability, a leave management model, and a customizable
service request. In addition, there are a cluster of features,
including an interview schedule, easy use of the dashboard,
feed forward, and time management. In fact, this system was
designed for small and medium-sized enterprises and it has a
streamlined HR process, and it is feature rich, intuitive and
flexible to configure with an intuitive interface. Figure 4
shows the Sentrifugo system dashboard. This dashboard
shows system-friendly interfaces.
4.3. Simple HRM
Simple HRM is an easy-to-use affordable open source
Human Resources Management solution and intuitive
system written in PHP and hosts MySQL Database. It has
been published under an AGPL License since 2012 [13].
It targets the small and medium-sized enterprise market. It
has several features, such as expense management, leave
management, and employee information management in
addition to many other features, including following, track
staff information, simplify employee management, time
management, and tasks management. It provides good
reports and statistics.
It also supports Modular Based Design, Employee Self
Service (ESS), and Manager Self Service (MSS) as well as
organizational structure, centralized management of
employee information, document management, employee
dependency details, leave workflow, expense workflow,
daily task reporting, company leave policy, and scheme, as
well as the ability to manage multiple companies within the
same organization. Figure 5 shows the Simple HRM
welcome admin page.
4.4. Orange HRM
Orange HRM was published in 2005, and since then, it has
been considered to be the most popular open source Human
Resources Management (HRM) package which is intuitive,
feature-rich, and robust. It has other versions, such as Orange
HRM Open Source (free of charge), Orange HRM
Professional and Orange HRM Enterprise. This diversity
gives Orange HRM more affordability and more flexibility
relative to other open source systems [14]. Orange HRM is
module-based architecture, which means one can take
control over one’s model and work with only what is needed.
This model includes the following: employee self-service
(ESS), personal information management (PIM), leave
management, performance evaluation and recruitment, and
time and attendance tracking (PTO). In addition, it offers
broad customization facilities to meet Human Resources
Management requirements, and it supports a wide range of
plugins [14]. Orange HRM is built on top of Apache2, PHP
and MySQL databases. Since its inception, millions of users
and clients have used it as a powerful management system. It
is also considered to be the best solution for every size of
business, such as small, medium-sized and large enterprises.
5. Comparisons of the Open Source
Software
The table below presents a detailed comparison between
each system. The information obtained is provided after
testing each system by initially configuring and hosting in a
virtual environment. Tables 4-A, 4-B and 4-C show
comparisons made between the systems in terms of general
characteristics, full specifications and system functionality
respectively.
 Universal Journal of Engineering Science 4(4): 66-78, 2016 69

Table 4A. General system comparison

A1 eHR Sentrif-ugo Simple HRM OrangeHR-M

Published since 2012 2007 2012 2005

Language Java PHP PHP PHP

Operating Systems Windows, Linux and MacOS Windows, Linux and MacOS Windows and Linux Windows, Linux and MacOS

Database PostgreSQL MySQL MySQL MySQL

App-Server J2EE None None Apache Server

Web-Client Yes Yes Yes Yes

Multi-Tenant Yes No Yes Yes

Developed Alliance Technologies Sentrifugo Inc. Viktor Nagorny orangehrm.org.

Table above show general system comparison such as published date, OS used, App-server used, Web-client used,
Database type and Development authors.
Table 4B. Specifications system comparison

A1 -eHR Sentrifu-go Simple HRM OrangeHRM

SaaS services (Live Cloud) Yes No No Yes

Multi Organization Yes No Yes Yes

User Profile Manager Yes No Yes Yes

Plugins Support No No No Yes

Administration Panel Yes Yes Yes Yes

Reporting Yes Yes Yes Yes

Email Notifications Yes No Yes Yes

comma separated values CSV Extraction No No No Yes

Personnel Informational Management Yes Yes Yes Yes

Flexibility Limited Limited Limited Yes

Employee Admin. Limited Limited Limited Yes

Leave/Time-Off Model Yes Yes Yes Yes

Electronic Signatures No No No Yes

Job Board Integration Yes Yes Yes Yes

Android & iOS API No No No Yes

Recruitment Limited Limited Limited Yes

Performance Monitor Yes Limited Limited Yes

Table above show specifications system comparison such as file type supported, plugins, look and feel retrieval system and
many other features as shown above.
70 Implementation of the Human Resources Information Systems and Comparative Study of Various Platforms

Table 4C. Functionality system comparison

A1- eHR Sentrifu-go Simple HRM OrangeHR-M

Customize Report Yes Limited Limited Yes

High-Performance Yes No No Yes

Stability Yes Yes Limited Yes

Filtering No No No Yes

Community Support Limited Limited Limited Yes

Online Capability Yes Yes Yes Yes

Disciplinary Tracking No No No Yes

Customize Lists Limited No No Yes

Customizable Look and Feel Limited Yes Limited Yes

Plug-in Support Yes No No Yes

The above results present the experience of each system
separately in a virtual environment, and it is obvious that the
OrangeHRM system outperforms other systems in this
comparison. Moreover, the unique possibility of this system
allows long-term use and customization to fit business
requirements without having to pay any remuneration. This
will allow us to go over a unique experience through using
this system, after which we move to additional services
provided by the same software such as (Live cloud) for
relatively little payment.
6. Lab Implementation
After reviewing the many studies on the related subject
and after making comparisons between the best open source
software, we used VirtualBox tools as a virtual environment.
Our lab component consisted of a main web server and one
host machine. We used Linux Server Debian Linux 8, and
we successfully configured OrangeHRM [14], inside it in
order to meet our case study work criteria. Figure 6 shows
our laboratory design, and Figure 7 shows our database main
schema.
7. Experimental Results
As the Human Resources Information System, it is natural
that the remainder of the system consists of inputs, processes,
outputs and feedback. Figure 8 shows system components
and Figure 9 shows the main system login pages. Figure 10
shows the system admin pages.
Input: Represents the input data set for individuals
working in the organization (such as data on the staff),
employees’ names, places and dates of birth, sex, religion,
marital status, places of residence, scientific eligibility,
functional degrees, experience, salaries and termination
dates. Job details contain job titles, organizational positions
and amendments thereto. Figure 11 shows the Employee
Personal Information page.
In addition to administrative data, the system contains data
related to employment policies, including laws and
regulations and decisions related to human resources, salary
components, emergency contacts, work experience, etc. The
system allows an individual employee to extract and monitor
his personal data, in separated page, data, such as
competition and how organizations access people with
experience, qualifications and salaries, cannot be edited by
users without admin permission. Additionally, data relating
to the preparation of programs and competencies which are
currently available, and contacts can be edited by employees.
Figure 12 shows the individual employee personal
information page.
Operations: Operations denotes all the data that have
been entered into the database of Human Resources through
collection, storage and classification. The use of
mathematical methods and statistical tests turns the data into
information and reports that can be tapped. Figure 13 shows
the system directory page.
Outputs: These pertain to the reports, responses and
information that reflect the findings of a system of results in
the light of the inputs that have been made to the database
after processing. Information about staff and functions
shows the movement of labor analyses for each department
and functions of statistics. This helps to clarify the
movement of labor in the organization in terms of
recruitment, transportation, loans, delegation, and upgrades.
Figure 14 shows a system sample report.
Feedback: Information carrying messages and
instructions on the functioning of the system and the extent
to which output is matched with the plans and carried out
 Universal Journal of Engineering Science 4(4): 66-78, 2016 71

through control over the previous element deviations in objectives of the organization. Figure 15 shows the
order to monitor and work to correct them and to serve the performance review.

Figure 3. Profile page

Figure 4. The sentrifugo system dashboard

72 Implementation of the Human Resources Information Systems and Comparative Study of Various Platforms

Figure 5. Simple HRM welcome admin page

Figure 6. Laboratory design

 Universal Journal of Engineering Science 4(4): 66-78, 2016 73

Figure 7. Database main schema

Figure 8. The components of the human resources information system

74 Implementation of the Human Resources Information Systems and Comparative Study of Various Platforms

Figure 9. Main system login pages

Figure 10. System admin pages

Universal Journal of Engineering Science 4(4): 66-78, 2016 75

Figure 11. Employee personal information page

Figure 12. Individual employee personal information page

76 Implementation of the Human Resources Information Systems and Comparative Study of Various Platforms

Figure 13. System directory page

Figure 14. System sample report

 Universal Journal of Engineering Science 4(4): 66-78, 2016
Figure 15. Performance review
8. Conclusions
In this paper, we have reviewed the importance of Human
Resources Management (HRM), and the role and
contribution of these systems in the development process of
any establishment in terms of efficiency, cost and time
management. We also reviewed Human Resources
Information Systems (HRIS) and gave an understanding of
the main differences between Human Resources
Management (HRM) and Human Resources Information
Systems (HRIS). While HR systems are more
comprehensive, HRIS are dedicated to achieve and serve any
employee matter. This study intended to discover the
importance of the Human Resources Information System
and its importance to any organization.
In addition, we discussed the current research on Human
Resources Management and Human Resources Information
Systems (HRIS). We highlighted the most important
expected evolution experienced by these systems through
related work studies, and we discussed the research
challenges. By selecting the University of Kirkuk as a case
study, we revised the possibility of implementing a HRIS
system there. In addition, we successfully suggested a HRIS
system for the University of Kirkuk.
The suggestion system is based on a real test assessment
made by using a virtual environment and the most common
open source software devoted to HRMS (or HRIS). Our
testing environment was grounded to functionality and
performance of the system, and how it can meet our case
study. Moreover we work through establishment a detail
compression tables as well as implementing a candidate
system to customize it to work as a HRIS system for our case
77
study.
Testing and implementation results showed the following:
the OrangeHRM open source software system could be used
as a HRIS system for our case study due to the vast potential
capability of this system. The University of Kirkuk can use
this system free of charge; and there is the option of
transition to the stage of adding services in different work
stages for a relatively small fee. Moreover, it can be
developed in the future to include a new facility. The test
results showed that this system is scalable, malleable,
flexible and interoperable for any future development.
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